THE  PENTECOST 
ON  THE  CONGO 


REV.  HENRY  RICHARDS 
Banza  Manteke,  Africa 


PRICE,  5  CENTS 


AMERICAN  BAPTIST  MISSION¬ 
ARY  UNION,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


REV.  HENRY  RICHARDS  went  from  England  to  Africa 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Livingstone  Inland  Mission 
in  1879  and  established  a  station  at  Banza  Manteke 
150  miles  from  the  mouth  and  ten  miles  south  of  the 
Congo  River.  In  1884  this  mission  was  transferred  to 
the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  together  with 
several  of  the  missionaries,  including  Mr.  Richards.  In 
1886  came  the  great  revival  at  his  station,  and  in  1891  he 
was  invited,  while  upon  furlough,  to  visit  America  and  speak 
before  our  churches.  The  following  account  is  a  condensed 
report  of  his  address,  which  produced  a  profound  impression 
wherever  it  was  given.  It  is  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  annals 
of  modern  missionary  miracles. 

Throughout  the  years  since,  the  blessing  of  God  has  rested 
upon  the  Congo  Mission  in  a  remarkable  manner.  For  a 
detailed  sketch  of  the  work  as  a  whole  the  reader  is  referred 
to  “Missions  in  Africa,”  a  historical  sketch  which  maybe 
secured  for  five  cents  from  the  Literature  Department, 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  Box  41,  Boston,  Mass. 


The  Pentecost  on  the  Congo 


INTRODUCTION 


OD  is  love”;  and  if  he  is  love  he  cannot  help  loving; 

1  -j-  and  “He  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only 

begotten  Son”  to  die  for  it;  and  after  the  Son 
died  to  accomplish  the  work  of  redemption,  after  he  had 
risen  again  and  “brought  life  and  immortality  to  light,” 
he  said  to  his  disciples :  “Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  the  whole  creation.”  He  means  to 
establish  a  kingdom  which  is  to  be  universal  and  eternal. 
Sometimes  as  one  looks  abroad  on  the  earth  and  knows 
how  heathendom  is  increasing  faster  than  Christianity, 
one’s  heart  is  apt  to  sink;  still  the  promise  is  that  “the 
kingdoms  of  this  earth  are  to  become  the  kingdom  of  our 
Lord  and  of  his  Christ.”  The  early  disciples  of  Christ 
could  not  understand  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  was  not 
to  be  a  temporal  kingdom.  After  speaking  to  them  for 
forty  days  concerning  the  kingdom  they  said  to  him:  “Wilt 
thou  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel?”  They  could  not  think 
that  this  kingdom  was  to  be  for  any  but  Israel,  and  so  Christ 
said  that  it  was  not  for  them  to  know  of  the  times  and  sea¬ 
sons.  “I  cannot  make  you  understand  this  kingdom  now, 
but  ‘when  the  Holy  Spirit  is  come  upon  you,’  you  will  per¬ 
ceive  that  the  kingdom  is  to  be  a  spiritual  kingdom ;  not  for 
the  Jews  alone,  but  for  the  whole  world.” 

After  the  day  of  Pentecost  Peter  seemed  to  understand 
much  better  than  before;  his  mind  and  heart  were  broad¬ 
ened,  and  he  could  say  that  “the  promise  is  unto  you,  and  to 
your  children,  and  to  all  that  are  afar  off.”  God  taught  Peter 
this  lesson  by  sending  him  to  Cornelius ;  but  even  after  this 
he  did  not  appear  to  get  over  the  old  Jewish  idea,  and  God 
raised  up  a  special  apostle  to  preach  especially  to  the  Gen¬ 
tiles.  There  seems  to  be  a  good  deal  of  that  Jewish  spirit 
about  us.  There  is  no  doubt  that  God  took  away  the  privi¬ 
lege  of  preaching  the  gospel  from  the  Jews  because  they 


Christ’s 

Kingdom 


2 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


The  “Dark 
Continent’’ 


Barriers 
to  Progress 


refused  to  do  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  Gentiles  of  Europe  and 
America  and  has  opened  up  the  world  to  them;  and  if  they 
do  not  give  the  world  the  gospel,  God  will  doubtless  raise 
up  some  other  race  and  take  the  privilege  of  preaching  from 
them  also. 

Africa  has  been  called  the  “Dark  Continent”  because  it 
was  unknown  to  us  and  unknown  to  geographers,  except  a 
few  parts  of  it  on  the  borders ;  but  from  a  geographical 
standpoint  it  can  no  longer  be  so  called.  There  are  prob¬ 
ably  few  places  where  a  missionary  could  not  go  and  settle 
down  among  the  people  and  preach  the  gospel ;  but,  morally 
and  spiritually,  it  is  still  the  “Dark  Continent.” 

EARLY  DAYS 

Stanley  tells  us  that  he  traveled  from  Zanzibar  around 
the  lakes  and  down  the  Congo  to  Banana  for  one  thousand 
days  except  one;  and  though  many  thousands  of  people 
passed  before  him  every  day,  he  did  not  find  one  that  knew 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  or  that  salvation  was  provided  for 
man.  Then  it  was  that  some  Christians  began  to  think 
it  was  time  that  these  people  should  hear  of  Christ,  and  a 
mission  was  started  in  1878.  The  reason  that  this  region 
was  unknown  for  so  long  was  owing  to  the  formation  of  the 
continent,  which  has  been  compared  to  a  saucer  turned 
upside  down,  necessitating  in  its  rivers  fierce  rapids  and 
huge  cataracts.  The  Congo  is  no  exception  to  this  rule. 
Although  its  mouth  has  been  known  for  more  than  400 
years,  yet  until  Stanley  came  down,  not  more  than  100 
miles  had  been  known.  Large  expeditions  had  been  sent  out 
to  explore  that  region,  hut  had  failed.  The  river  is  only 
navigable  for  100  miles  from  the  mouth.  Then  there  are 
200  miles  of  cataracts,  from  Ycllala  to  Stanley  Pool.  No 
steamer  could  ascend  these,  and  as  one  left  the  river  other 
difficulties  at  once  met  him.  There  were  no  roads  but  sim¬ 
ply  narrow  paths,  leading  from  village  to  village,  through 
long  grass  growing  from  six  to  eight  feet  high,  over  moun¬ 
tains  and  hills,  through  valleys  and  down  deep  ravines, 
across  rivers  and  streams,  through  woods  and  over  rocks  in 
endless  variety.  There  were  no  means  of  transportation ; 
no  wagons,  no  beasts  of  burden,  and  no  native  porters  that 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


3 


we  could  obtain  when  wTe  first  went  out.  Besides  these 
obstacles,  the  danger  from  the  climate  was  very  great. 

HARD  TRAVELING 

In  1879  I  was  sent  out  with  some  others  to  try  to  reach 
Stanley  Pool,  if  possible,  or  at  least  get  beyond  Palabala 
forty  or  fifty  miles  and  establish  a  station,  hoping  eventu¬ 
ally  to  form  a  chain  of  stations  reaching  from  the  coast  to  a  Chain 
Stanley  Pool.  The  idea  vTas  then  to  put  a  steamer  on  the  of  Statlous 
upper  Congo,  by  means  of  which  to  reach  the  people  there 
and  preach  the  gospel.  But  this  undertaking  was  much 
more  difficult  than  was  at  first  expected.  It  was  many  years 
before  we  were  established  at  Stanley  Pool  and  many  pre¬ 
cious  lives  were  laid  down.  Why  the  people  of  the  cataract 
region  and  the  lower  Congo  should  be  counted  as  unworthy 
of  the  gospel,  I  never  could  understand.  It  seemed  a  mania 
at  that  time  to  get  to  Stanley  Pool,  but  now  there  are  mis¬ 
sion  steamers  plying  on  the  upper  Congo,  and  many  stations 
there. 

The  difficulties  of  transport  were  enormous.  The  first 
two  missionaries  obtained  Ivroo  boys  from  the  Ivroo  coast. 

As  they  were  only  engaged  for  one  year  their  fare  had  to 
be  paid  down  and  up,  and  as  it  was  rather  expensive  to  use 
them  as  porters,  our  society  said,  “Why  not  try  donkeys? 
they  are  very  hardy  animals.”  So  we  got  five  or  six  donkeys 
from  the  island  of  Teneriffe,  made  our  own  saddles  of  can¬ 
vas  that  we  had  with  us,  loaded  them  up  and  started  off  for 
Palabala,  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles.  This  road  had  never 
been  traveled  before  by  a  wdiite  man,  but  as  the  only  trader 
there  promised  us  a  guide,  we  did  not  think  it  would  be 
at  all  difficult  to  find  our  way.  We  started  off  in  good  style 
and  it  seemed  quite  a  success.  Presently  our  path  led  down 
to  a  stream  of  water,  at  the  bottom  of  which  wrere  rocks  and 
boulders  and  large  stones  that  made  the  stream  very  diffi¬ 
cult  to  ford.  It  was  evidently  never  intended  for  donkeys  Donkeys  as 
or  anybody  else  to  cross.  The  first  donkeys  went  over  all  Carriers 
right,  but  mine  refused  to  go.  I  gently  encouraged  it  with 
a  little  strap,  and  it  gave  a  spring  and  jumped  right  into 
the  middle  of  the  stream.  The  water  was  about  three  feet 
deep,  and  when  it  got  in  it  did  not  go  right  across,  as  I 


4 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


An 

Unexpected 

Bath 


A  Hardy 
Specimen 


expected  it  would,  but  quietly  sat  down  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  bales  and  all.  The  donkey  seemed  to  say,  “Well, 
now,  this  is  a  very  hot  day;  this  water  is  deliciously  cool; 
why  not  let  me  alone?”  We  urged  it,  but  it  refused  to  move, 
and  we  had  to  take  a  bath  ourselves.  We  took  the  bales  off, 
got  the  donkey  out  and  started  off  on  the  other  side.  Then 
the  path  began  to  lead  up  the  hill,  but  the  bales  began  to 
slip  back,  so  we  had  to  fix  them  from  time  to  time.  This 
was  very  tiresome,  but  at  last  we  reached  the  top  of  the 
hill.  Then  the  path  led  down  a  very  steep  hill,  and  the 
bales  would  go  forward  until  they  reached  the  donkey’s  neck, 
and  then  it  would  hold  down  its  head,  and  the  bales  would, 
of  course,  go  over. 

At  last  the  sun  began  to  go  down,  and  we  began  to  think 
it  was  time  to  stop  for  the  night.  We  put  up  our  tents,  but 
as  the  distance  which  wTe  had  expected  to  go  was  so  short 
we  had  made  very  little  provision  for  the  journey.  The 
other  missionary  spread  out  his  blankets  and  soon  fell 
asleep.  I  knew  there  were  scorpions,  snakes  and  jiggers, 
and  not  caring  to  sleep  with  them  as  companions  I  spread 
out  my  blankets  on  the  bales  and  boxes  and  put  a  blanket 
on  the  top.  This  looked  very  comfortable,  but  when  I 
stretched  myself  out  on  it  I  found  that  the  edges  of  the 
boxes  were  not  at  all  soft,  so  I  preferred  to  sit  up,  as  I 
had  never  slept  out  of  a  bed  before.  The  next  morning  we 
started  off  again,  and  the  path,  which  was  very  narrow,  led 
along  the  side  of  a  steep  hill.  I  trembled  for  the  safety  of 
the  donkeys,  believing  that  if  they  fell  they  would  certainly 
be  killed.  Presently  my  donkey  lost  its  footing  and  fell,  and 
began  to  roll  down  the  side  of  the  hill.  I  was  obliged  to  let 
go  the  rope,  and  then  it  began  to  roll  faster  and  faster  down 
through  the  grass,  and  all  I  could  see  flying  through  the  air 
were  hoofs  and  bales,  faster  and  faster,  until  suddenly 
stopped  by  a  tree  that  was  growing  out  of  the  side  of  the 
hill.  We  went  down  expecting  to  find  the  donkey  dead,  if 
not  dashed  in  pieces,  but  he  was  still  breathing  and  finally 
came  out  all  right.  We  got  the  bales  off  and  after  much 
hard  work  succeeded  in  pulling  and  hauling  him  out  on  the 
path.  Putting  the  bales  on  once  more,  off  we  started  again, 
and  finally  reached  Palabala,  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles,  on 
the  fifth  day. 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


BANZA  MANTEKE 

We  had  learned  much  from  this,  our  first  traveling  in 
Africa,  and  made  preparations  to  start  off  into  the  interior 
toward  Stanley  Pool.  aSTo  one  knew  what  was  on  ahead,  none 
having  ever  been  that  wray.  We  went  about  fifty  or  sixty 
miles  beyond  Palabala,  where  the  path  appeared  to  end  and 
there  seemed  to  be  a  ferry.  No  canoes  or  boats  could  be 
seen,  however,  which  we  could  engage  to  take  us  across. 
Our  provisions  and  cloth  were  nearly  finished,  and  the  other 
two  missionaries  thought  that  we  had  better  return.  We 
got  back  about  ten  miles  from  the  river  to  a  place  called 
Banza  Manteke,  and  as  there  were  numerous  villages  about 
there  and  the  people  looked  rather  friendly,  I  thought  it  a 
good  place  to  establish  a  station. 

As  wTe  only  had  one  tent  we  built  a  hut  in  two  days,  out 
of  the  long  grass  growing  there,  and  in  September,  1S79,  I 
found  myself  alone  among  a  people  entirely  unknown  to 
me.  My  companion  returned  to  the  coast.  I  knew  nothing 
of  their  customs  nor  their  language.  They  might  have  been 
cannibals  and  have  eaten  me  up ;  and  when  darkness  came 
on  I  began  to  feel  lonely  and  thought  of  those  I  had  left 
behind.  I  tried  hard  to  banish  such  thoughts  and  said  to 
myself,  “I  have  given  myself  to  missionary  work  and  must 
settle  down  and  make  my  home  here.”  I  at  once  began  to 
study  the  people,  but  found  it  very  difficult  as  I  could  not 
understand  their  language.  It  is  very  hard  to  find  out  the 
customs  and  beliefs  of  the  heathen.  You  might  live  among 
them  for  twenty  years  and  know  very  little  about  them. 
There  are  some  things,  however,  which  you  will  soon  find 
out  without  any  trouble  at  all. 

The  people  appear  to  suffer  from  a  disease  called  klepto¬ 
mania.  They  would  soon  relieve  you  of  the  care  of  all  your 
things  if  you  would  allow  them.  I  would  wash  my  hands 
cutside  my  hut,  and  they  would  think  soap  a  very  nice 
thing  to  wash  with;  and  as  I  turned  round  and  left  it,  it 
was  gone  and  everything  else  that  I  left  about.  I  would 
look  into  their  faces,  accuse  them  of  stealing  and  taking 
my  things,  and  they  would  look  innocently  into  mine  and 
deny  it,  not  even  blushing.  I  soon  found  out  that  they 
were  unable  to  speak  the  truth  and  that  they  considered 
it  quite  a  compliment  to  be  called  a  liar. 


An  Un¬ 
known  Region 


Stealing 
and  Hying 


6 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


Learning 
to  Talk 


A  Strange 
Grammar 


STUDYING  THE  LANGUAGE 

The  greatest  difficulty  at  first  was  with  the  language.  I 
had  to  begin  at  once  to  learn  it,  as  I  had  two  Kroo  boys 
with  me  for  whom  I  had  to  provide  food,  and  I  had  to 
barter.  As  I  could  not  talk  I  wTould  hold  up  a  piece  of  cloth 
and  look  at  the  potatoes  and  fowls,  and  they  would  nod 
assent.  They  would  take  possession  of  the  cloth  and  I 
would  take  the  potatoes  and  fowls.  I  went  on  in  this  way 
for  some  time  and  found  this  would  not  do,  but  that  I  must 
in  some  way  get  hold  of  the  language.  They  had  no  dic¬ 
tionaries,  grammars,  books  nor  literature.  No  white  man 
had  ever  acquired  the  language.  I  got  a  note  book  and 
placed  it  outside  of  my  hut  on  a  little  box,  and  determined 
to  write  down  everything  I  could  hear,  phonetically,  and 
also  what  I  thought  it  meant,  until  I  had  quite  a  number 
of  words,  phrases  and  sentences.  I  began  to  use  them  at 
once.  Although  the  people  would  laugh  at  my  pronuncia¬ 
tions  and  the  way  I  put  the  words  together,  I  did  not  mind 
that.  I  found  it  very  difficult  to  get  hold  of  some  words. 
As  I  saw  that  there  was  great  affection  between  the  mothers 
and  the  children,  I  tried  to  find  a  word  for  mother,  and 
at  last  got  one  which  I  thought  meant  mother.  The  word 
was  “ukuluntu,”  which  I  afterwards  found  meant  a  full 
grown  man;  and  I  was  about  as  near  as  this  in  many  other 
words. 

Then  I  tried  to  get  hold  of  the  grammar  of  the  language. 
This  I  found  difficult.  For  instance,  I  began  with  the 
nouns  and  wanted  to  get  the  plurals ;  of  course,  I  expected  to 
see  the  change  at  the  end  of  the  word,  but  never  could  hear 
any.  I  would  hear  “dinkondo”  (plantain),  but  I  wanted  to 
say  plantains.  At  last  I  heard  a  man  say  “monkondo,”  and 
T  said  that  is  the  plural ;  “di,”  singular ;  “ma,”  plural.  Then 
I  heard  “nsusu”  (fowl),  and  I  thought  the  plural  would  be 
“mansusu,”  and  I  would  say  “mansusu”;  they  would  laugh 
and  say,  “not  so,  but  zinsusu.”  So  I  went  on  and  found 
that  there  were  sixteen  classes  of  nouns.  The  noun  is  the 
governing  word  in  the  sentence.  Nouns  have  prefixes  which 
go  right  through  the  sentence.  This  is  what  is  called  the 
alliterative  concord.  For  instance,  it  might  be  illustrated 
by  the  word  “finsusu,”  a  little  fowl.  “Finsu  fiame  fiafina 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


7 


finabudianya  masanya”  (the  little  fowl  of  mine  there  eats 
corn). 

After  a  time  I  began  to  try  to  get  hold  of  some  preposi¬ 
tions.  I  got  hold  of  the  word  “vonda,”  to  kill,  but  I  wanted 
to  say  “kill  for  me,”  but  I  could  not  get  hold  of  the  word 
“for.”  About  this  time  I  heard  the  word  “vondila”;  by  this 
I  found  that  “ila”  was  used  instead  of  for.  “Ila”  by  itself, 
of  course,  meant  nothing,  but  connected  with  the  verb 
meant  “for”;  “vondila,”  to  kill  for.  Then  I  heard  the  word 
“vondisa.”  “Isa”  was  the  causative,  “vondisa,”  to  cause  to 
kill.  Then  I  heard  “vondisila,”  which  I  found  meant  to 
cause  to  kill  for.  “Isa”  is  the  causative  and  “ila”  the  ap¬ 
plied  form.  The  fowls  were  fighting,  and  I  heard  them  say, 
“zinsusu  zinabuvondasana,”  the  fowls  are  killing  each  other. 
We  called  that  the  reciprocal  form.  I  went  on  in  that  way 
until  I  found  that  there  were  seventeen  different  classes 
of  verbs. 

There  are  also  very  many  tenses,  besides  the  ordinary 
tenses,  present,  past  and  future,  which  have  specific  forms. 
Tor  instance,  “nvondilenyi,”  which  is  from  “vonda,”  means 
I  killed  this  morning;  “nyiavondila,”  I  killed  yesterday. 
From  these  stems  you  can  form  nouns.  “Tonda,”  to  thank; 
“tondula”  is  the  reversitive  form  of  the  verb,  which  would 
mean  to  be  unthankful  or  ungrateful.  From  this  word  you 
could  form  the  noun  “lutondula,”  ingratitude;  and  in  this 
way  we  have  very  expressive  nouns:  “zola,”  to  love;  “zo- 
lasana,”  to  love  each  other,  wdiich  is  the  reciprocal  form; 
and  from  this  the  noun  “luzolasunu,”  a  loving  of  each 
other. 

So  you  will  see  that  this  language  is  not,  as  some  suppose, 
a  mere  jargon,  but  is  a  beautiful  language,  very  euphoni¬ 
ous  and  flowing,  with  numerous  inflexions,  and  very  ex¬ 
pressive.  When  once  known  it  is  very  easy  to  preach  and 
translate  the  Scriptures  into  it.  The  language  seems  to  be 
altogether  superior  to  the  people,  and  there  must  have  been 
a  time  when  they  were  in  a  high  state  of  civilization,  but 
have  somehow  or  by  some  means  degenerated.  The  great 
Bantu  languages,  spoken  from  about  six  degrees  north  of 
the  equator  down  to  the  Cape,  evidently  ruled  and  belonged 
to  one  people.  The  language  spoken  in  Zanzibar  is  related 


Numerous 

Verbs 


A  Superior 
Language 


8 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


A  Great 
Creator 


Witch 

Doctors 


to  our  Banza  Manteke,  as  many  of  the  words  are  identical 
and  the  construction  of  the  language  is  very  much  the  same. 
The  phrase  “Nzain  Nzambebizi”  is  the  same  as  used  in 
Victoria  Hyanza  and  Albert  Nyanza  and  Nyanza  and  Tan- 
ganika.  The  native  word  for  the  Congo  River  is  not  Congo, 
but  “Nzadi”;  “Nbizi,”  a  fish;  “nza,”  a  river,  and  “Zambesi,” 
a  fish-river. 

RELIGION  OF  THE  PEOPLE 

After  being  able  to  use  the  language  a  little,  I  began  to 
try  to  find  out  the  customs,  superstitions  and  religion  of 
the  people.  I  asked  them  who  made  the  sun,  the  moon,  the 
stars,  the  plantains,  potatoes  and  everything  else,  and  they 
said,  “Nzambi.”  I  asked  them  where  “Nzambi”  lived,  and 
they  said  in  the  heavens.  One  said  that  wdien  it  thundered 
“Nzambi”  W'as  boiling  his  pot.  So  they  know  there  is  a 
great  creator.  Then  I  asked  them  why  they  did  not  worship 
“Hzambi”;  but  no,  they  did  not  think  he  was  a  good  God 
and  they  did  not  thank  him.  He  did  not  concern  himself 
about  them;  he  was  too  far  away.  They  were  as  Paul 
described  the  heathen  in  the  first  chapter  of  Romans  (verses 
19-25).  They  have  little  images  cut  out  of  wood,  like  them¬ 
selves,  birds’  heads  and  birds’  beaks  and  birds’  claws,  snakes’ 
heads  and  snakes’  eggs  and  animals;  these  are  their  gods  or 
their  charms.  In  them  they  trust  for  protection  from  harm, 
sickness,  death  and  misfortune,  but  they  never  expect  to  re¬ 
ceive  any  blessings  from  them.  The  idea  is  to  keep  away  the 
power  of  witchcraft  or  evil  spirits.  They  believe  sickness, 
death  and  all  misfortune  due  to  witchcraft,  but  have 
charms  to  counteract  its  power.  If  there  were  no  witches, 
there  would  be  no  sickness  and  death.  Their  witch  doctors 
they  call  “zinganga.”  For  instance,  if  a  person  is  sick  they 
send  for  the  zinganga.  He  comes  with  a  great  many  incan¬ 
tations  and  tries  to  drive  the  devil  out,  but  he  does  not 
often  succeed.  Then  if  the  one  who  is  sick  does  not  get 
better  they  have  what  is  called  “vintula  moyu”  (returning 
life),  and  the  zinganga  comes  and  performs  more  incanta¬ 
tions;  then  they  take  up  the  sick  person  and  throw  him 
violently  to  and  fro  to  return  life,  and  often  they  drive 
out  the  little  life  there  is.  At  other  times  the  zinganga 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


9 


is  sent  for,  who  points  out  the  witch,  and  this  person  has  to 
take  poison.  He  will,  of  course,  often  protest  and  say  that 
he  does  not  bewitch  any  one  and  has  no  desire  to  do  so ; 
nevertheless,  he  must  come  and  take  the  poison.  If  he 
vomits  it,  they  say  that  he  is  innocent;  if  it  kills  him,  he  is 
guilty.  In  the  case  of  the  death  of  a  prominent  man,  es¬ 
pecially  a  chief,  they  do  not  do  this ;  but  the  zinganga  points 
out  a  man,  whom  they  take  to  a  hill  top  and  sometimes 
shoot.  Sometimes  they  cut  his  throat  and  sometimes  they 
burn  him.  JSTo  doubt  thousands  of  innocent  people  in  Africa 
are  slaughtered  daily.  Travelers  and  others  passing  through 
the  country  who  see  these  things,  pronounce  these  people 
to  be  very  cruel  and  barbarous,  delighting  in  shedding  of 
blood,  and  they  sometimes  imagine  that  they  have  seen  can¬ 
nibals;  but  I  do  not  believe  the  African  is  naturally  a  cruel 
man.  It  is  not  from  cruelty  that  the  Africans  poison  and 
kill  each  other  in  the  way  described,  but  because  they  be¬ 
lieve  those  persons  condemned  by  the  zinganga  are  guilty, 
as  we  do  when  persons  are  condemned  by  a  judge  and  jury 
in  a  court  of  justice. 

TELLING  ABOUT  GOD 

After  a  time  I  began  to  try  to  show  them  that  sickness 
and  death  and  all  our  misfortunes  were  not  due  to  witch¬ 
craft,  but  to  sin.  So  I  began  to  give  them  an  account  of  the 
creation  and  the  fall,  as  we  have  it  in  Genesis;  to  show  them 
that  we  inherited  sin  from  our  first  parents,  and  through 
sin,  death  and  sickness  and  all  our  woes  come.  I  tried  to 
show  them  that  God  was  not  only  a  great  Creator  and  all 
powerful,  but  was  also  kind  and  loving.  I  remember  one 
day  I  was  trying  to  show  them  that  God  is  good,  and  one 
man  said  to  me,  “Is  that  so?”  We  have  an  insect  called  the 
jigger,  introduced  in  the  Congo  from  Brazil  about  fifty  years 
ago,  but  which  has  now  spread  over  the  whole  Congo  region. 
In  appearance  it  is  very  much  like  a  small  flea,  almost  micro¬ 
scopical.  It  gets  in  under  the  toe  nails,  or  into  any  hard 
place  in  the  bottom  of  the  foot,  or  in  almost  any  place  where 
it  can  fasten  itself,  but  especially  under  the  nails.  There 
it  makes  a  little  bag  about  the  size  of  a  pea,  and  this  bag 
is  filled  with  jigger  eggs ;  if  not  taken  out  they  go  on  making 


Poison 

Giving 


“God  is 
Good” 


10 


THE  TENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


Puzzling 

Questions 


No  Sense 
of  Siu 


these  bags  until  a  person  will  lose  the  toe  if  they  are  not 
removed.  It  is  quite  a  common  thing  to  come  across  na¬ 
tives  with  one  or  two  toes  gone  from  their  feet.  It  is  no 
doubt  the  greatest  pest  that  we  have  in  the  Congo.  As  I 
was  trying  to  tell  this  native  that  God  was  good,  he  said  to 
me,  “You  say  God  is  good”;  and  he  pointed  to  the  ground 
and  said,  “Who  made  the  jigger?”  They  would  ask  ques¬ 
tions  that  were  not  easily  answered.  Sometimes  I  could 
answer  these  questions  to  their  satisfaction,  but  not  always 
to  my  own.  I  went  on  this  way,  teaching  them  about  the 
creation,  the  fall,  the  flood,  and  giving  them  some  account 
of  the  children  of  Israel,  thinking  it  was  necessary  to  give 
them  some  idea  of  the  Old  Testament  before  commencing 
with  the  New. 


PREACHING  THE  LAW 

I  continued  this  until  I  had  been  in  Africa  four  years. 
During  that  time  I  had  suffered  much  with  fever.  When 
I  first  went  to  Banza  Manteke  I  had  it  every  three  weeks, 
and  the  hardships  of  this  pioneer  work  had  reduced  me  so 
much  that  I  was  obliged  to  return  home  for  rest.  As  I  was 
thinking  of  returning  again  to  Congo  one  thing  that 
troubled  me  very  much  was  that  the  people  did  not  feel 
themselves  to  be  sinners.  I  mentioned  this  to  a  prominent 
Christian  worker  who  had  had  great  experience  in  mission 
work,  and  said  I  did  not  see  how  I  could  preach  a  Saviour 
until  they  felt  themselves  sinners.  I  was  advised  to  go 
back  and  preach  the  law. 

On  reaching  Banza  Manteke  the  first  thing  I  did  was  to 
translate  the  Ten  Commandments  and  read  and  expound 
them  to  the  people.  I  asked  them  after  I  had  finished  read¬ 
ing  them  if  they  thought  they  were  good,  and  they  always 
assented  that  they  were  very  good;  and  I  would  ask  them 
if  they  had  kept  these  laws,  and  they  would  all  say  “Yes.” 
“God  says,  ‘Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  but  me;  thou 
shalt  not  make  any  idols.’  You  do  not  worship  God  and 
you  make  idols;  how  do  you  say  that  you  keep  these  com¬ 
mandments?”  They  would  answer,  “We  do.”  I  would  say 
that  we  had  all  sinned  and  broken  these  laws,  and  they 
would  reply,  “The  white  man  may  be  a  sinner;  the  people 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


11 


on  tHe  top  may  be  sinners,  and  those  below  may  be  sinners; 
but  we  are  not.”  One  day  there  was  a  man  in  the  company 
that  I  was  speaking  to  who  had  stolen  from  me,  and  I 
thought  I  would  test  him  at  the  risk  of  getting  myself  into 
trouble.  I  said  to  him,  “Thou  shalt  not  steal.  Have  you 
kept  that  commandment?”  He  said,  “Yes.”  I  said,  “How 
about  that  hammock  you  stole  from  me?”  “You  do  not  call 
that  stealing,  do  you?  I  only  took  it  away.”  “How  about 
the  peanuts  we  caught  you  taking  out  of  the  house?”  He 
became  very  indignant  and  said,  “The  white  man  has  called 
me  a  thief  before  these  people.  Jle  has  disgraced  my  char¬ 
acter  and  ruined  my  reputation.”  And  he  turned  away  from 
me  in  disgust.  This  confirmed  me  in  my  opinion  that  the 
people  had  no  consciences.  I  went  on  in  this  way  for  six 
years,  and  the  people  were  no  better  than  when  I  first  went 
there,  as  far  as  I  could  see.  They  kept  up  the  poison  giv¬ 
ing  and  the  disgusting  night  dances. 

The  only  difference  was  that  they  seemed  to  respect  me 
more.  They  look  upon  the  white  man  as  a  demon,  but  by 
relieving  them  with  medicine  and  protecting  them  from 
the  white  men  who  passed  through  their  country  and  tried 
to  impose  upon  them,  I  gained  their  respect.  One  time 
when  there  was  war  between  our  people  and  the  people  of 
another  tribe  I  got  up  and  walked  between  the  two  parties, 
and  they  stopped  fighting;  and  the  next  day  they  came  and 
thanked  me,  and  said  that  they  would  have  been  crying  over 
their  friends  if  I  had  not  stopped  them,  as  their  people 
were  related;  but  otherwise  the  people  were  just  as  heathen 
as  ever.  Being  weak  and  unable  to  preach  I  began  to  study 
the  Scriptures,  and  to  feel  there  was  some  mistake  in  my 
preaching.  In  the  early  days  souls  were  converted,  why 
not  now?  Is  the  gospel  less  powerful  now  than  then?  If 
heathen  then  turned  from  dumb  idols  to  serve  the  living 
God,  why  should  not  these  people  in  Banza  Manteke  do 
the  same?  In  studying  the  gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  I  began  to  see  my  mistake;  especially  in  reading 
the  last  Great  Commission.  It  does  not  say,  “Go  ye  into 
all  the  world  and  preach  law,  or  Moses,  or  Judaism,”  but 
“Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel.”  The  gos¬ 
pel  is  not  law.  Law  came  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  truth 
came  by  Jesus  Christ, 


Keeping  the 
Command¬ 
ments 


Mistake 

Discovered 


Enduement  of 
Power 


Does  the 
Bible  Mean 
What  it  Says? 


12  THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 

A  QUESTION  OF  INTERPRETATION 

I  went  to  work  again  with,  a  different  idea,  and  deter¬ 
mined  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  I  cried  out  for  a  special 
enduement  of  power  from  on  high.  Then  I  had  to  decide 
as  to  what  the  gospel  was.  If  I  preached  Jesus  and  him 
crucified,  they  would  want  to  know  who  Jesus  was.  I  con¬ 
sidered  it  necessary  to  teach  the  incarnation,  life,  death, 
resurrection,  miracles,  teaching,  intercession  and  coming 
again  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  began  with  the  Gospel 
of  Luke,  translating  ten  or  twelve  verses  a  day  as  best  I 
could,  and  then  read  and  expounded  them  to  the  people,  ask¬ 
ing  God  to  bless  his  Word.  They  were  at  once  more  inter¬ 
ested  in  the  gospel  than  when  I  preached  the  law,  for  that 
irritated  them  and  turned  them  away  from  me,  as  they  did 
not  like  to  be  accused  of  sin.  When  I  preached  of  the  Lord 
Jesus’  coming  as  a  baby,  growing  up  to  be  a  boy,  and  that 
he  went  about  doing  good,  the  people  listened  attentively. 
I  became  hopeful,  my  faith  was  strengthened  and  I  believed 
that  anybody  could  be  converted. 

This  went  on  very  well  until  I  got  to  the  sixth  chapter 
of  Luke,  thirtieth  verse,  then  another  difficulty  arose.  I 
should  mention  in  describing  the  character  of  the  people 
that  they  were  notorious  beggars.  They  would  ask  for  any¬ 
thing  they  saw.  They  would  ask  for  my  only  knife,  blanket 
or  plate,  and  when  I  said  I  could  not  give  them  to  them, 
they  would  say,  “You  can  get  more.”  They  would  see  me 
write  a  note  and  send  it  down  to  Palabala;  and  when  things 
would  come  up,  they  thought  the  white  man  by  merely 
writing  a  note  could  get  everything  he  wanted,  and  that  he 
was  mean  and  selfish  not  to  give  them  all  they  asked  for. 
Yow  here  is  the  text,  “Give  to  every  one  that  asketh  thee.” 
I  had  been  in  the  habit  of  taking  things  in  their  order.  The 
man  who  helped  me  with  my  translating  did  not  see  my 
difficulty,  and  I  told  him  that  I  did  not  need  him  further 
that  day,  and  I  went  to  my  room  and  prayed.  The  time 
for  the  service  was  coming  on.  We  had  daily  service,  and 
the  thought  came  why  not  pass  over  that  verse,  and  then 
my  conscience  stung  me,  and  it  said  that  that  would  not  be 
bonest.  Service  time  came,  but  I  did  not  go  on  with  the 
gospel,  but  went  back  to  the  beginning;  and  I  thought  this 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


13 


would  give  me  some  time  to  consider  the  meaning  of  this 
text. 

PRACTISE  WHAT  YOU  PREACH 

After  about  a  fortnight  of  prayer  and  consideration,  I 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Lord  Jesus  meant  just  what 
he  said,  and  I  went  and  read  it  to  the  people.  I  told  them 
that  they  knew  I  had  not  lived  this,  but  Jesus  meant  just 
what  he  said.  If  I  had  told  them  that  Jesus  did  not  mean 
what  he  said  they  would  have  called  me  a  fool.  I  told  them 
that  God  had  set  before  us  a  very  high  standard,  but  it 
would  probably  take  me  a  lifetime  to  live  up  to  it,  but  I 
meant  to  live  what  I  preached  to  them.  The  natives  there 
have  common  sense,  and  they  would  easily  see  any  discrep¬ 
ancy  between  a  man’s  life  and  preaching.  After  the  address 
was  over  the  natives  began  to  ask  me  for  things;  one  asked 
me  for  this  and  another  for  that,  and  I  gave  to  them.  I 
began  to  wonder  whereunto  this  would  grow,  but  I  told  the 
Lord  that  I  could  not  see  that  he  meant  anything  different 
from  what  he  said.  I  would  test  this  text,  and  though  I 
could  not  understand  all,  I  would  wait  until  I  could.  This 
created  quite  a  stir  among  the  people.  They  had  never 
heard  such  preaching,  nor  seen  such  living,  and  they  would 
now  listen  eagerly  to  the  word  of  God.  One  day  a  group 
of  people  was  waiting  outside  after  the' service,  and  from 
the  window  in  my  house  I  could  see  them,  but  they  could 
not  see  me;  and  one  said,  “I  got  this  from  the  white  man 
yesterday”;  and  another  said,  “I  am  going  to  ask  the  white 
man  for  things  like  that”;  but  another  said,  “Ho,  if  you 
want  it,  buy  it”;  another,  “Yes,  buy  it  if  you  want  it.” 
After  that  I  lived  there  three  years  among  these  people  and 
they  rarely  asked  me  for  a  thing. 

A  missionary  came  up  during  the  revival,  and  said  that 
he  was  delighted  to  see  the  people  turning  from  dumb  idols 
to  God,  and  he  asked  how  it  began.  I  told  him  my  experi¬ 
ence  and  about  my  difficulty  with  that  text,  and  he  asked 
if  I  supposed  that  it  really  meant  what  it  said.  Then  he 
said,  “But  these  people  know  you;  you  have  lived  here  for 
seven  years,  but  if  you  were  to  go  to  Palabala  they  would 
ask  for  your  house  and  turn  you  out.”  I  had  been  to  Pala¬ 
bala  and  they  always  did  beg,  but  my  wife  and  I  went  there 


A  High 
Standard 


Turning  From 
Idols 


14 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


The  Climax 
Reached 


The  Gospel 
Story  Convicts 


afterwards  and  remained  a  week  and  no  one  asked  me  for  a 
single  thing. 

THE  HOLY  GHOST  CAME  UPON  THEM 

I  went  on  translating  and  expounding  Luke’s  gospel  and 
the  interest  increased  continually.  I  began  to  speak  to  the 
people  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  was  afraid  to  do  this  at  first,  as 
I  had  to  use  their  words  to  explain  to  them  what  they 
meant.  I  cried  out  that  God  would  clothe  me  with  power 
and  let  the  Spirit  fall  upon  the  people.  The  climax  was 
reached  when  I  came  to  the  account  of  the  crucifixion  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  There  was  quite  a  large  congre¬ 
gation,  and  I  said,  “How.  I  have  read  to  you  all  about  Jesus, 
how  kind  and  how  good  he  was ;  how  he  gave  sight  to  the 
blind  and  hearing  to  the  deaf,  raised  the  dead,  and  did 
nothing  but  good.  How  here  is  this  loving  one  on  the  cross, 
nailed  there  between  the  thieves.  You  think  those  Jews 
were  cruel  because  they  nailed  such  a  loving  one  as  Jesus 
to  the  cross,  but  we  are  just  as  bad  as  they;  your  sins  and 
mine  nailed  Jesus  there.  Jesus  never  would  have  died  if 
we  had  not  been  sinners ;  and  remember  that  he  is  the  Son 
of  God  and  he  could  blow  them  all  away  into  eternity  by 
the  breath  of  his  mouth.  But  while  the  priests  are  scoffing, 
the  soldiers  mocking  and  the  thief  railing,  just  listen  to 
what  Jesus  says:  ‘Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do.’  Did  you  ever  hear  anything  like  that  ? 
Jesus  suffered  all  this  for  your  sins  and  mine.” 

It  seemed  as  if  the  Holy  Ghost  had  fallen  upon  the  peo¬ 
ple.  They  began  to  look  at  each  other,  hut  they  were  afraid 
to  confess.  I  saw  the  power  and  continued  preaching;  and 
one  day  when  I  had  finished  preaching  in  a  town,  Lutate, 
who  had  helped  me  with  the  language,  said  to  the  people : 
“This  white  man  has  been  here  all  this  time.  I  believe  those 
words  are  true  words,  and  yet  you  do  not  believe.”  He  often 
told  me  that  he  did  believe,  but  I  saw  no  change  in  his  life. 
As  we  came  back  through  the  woods  he  began  to  sing  one 
of  our  Congo  hymns.  I  saw  his  face  shining  with  joy,  and 
he  said,  “I  do  believe  those  words.  I  do  believe  Jesus  has 
taken  away  my  sins.  I  do  believe  he  has  saved^me,  and  I 
do  feel  so  happy.”  I  had  never  seen  him  look  or  speak  like 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


15 


that  before;  and  I  took  him  by  the  hand  and  gave  him  the 
name  Barnaba  (as  they  cannot  conclude  a  word  with  a  con¬ 
sonant),  son  of  consolation;  and  he  was  a  real  son  to  me. 

He  was  the  first  convert  at  Banza  Manteke,  after  seven  The  First 
years’  weary  waiting  and  hard  work  and  suffering.  Lutate  Convert 
showed  the  reality  of  his  conversion  by  testifying  at  once 
to  the  people  what  the  Lord  had  done  for  him,  and  then  they 
became  his  enemies.  The  people  banded  themselves  to¬ 
gether  to  poison  him.  It  was  all  very  well,  they  said,  to 
listen  to  what  the  white  man  said,  but  when  he  told  them 
their  charms  were  nothing,  they  were  very  angry  and  looked 
upon  him  as  a  traitor.  The  witch  doctors  had  told  them 
that  I  had  got  the  souls  of  the  people  up  over  the  mats  that 
1  used  for  a  ceiling,  and  when  I  had  a  sufficient  number  of 
them  I  sent  them  by  some  mysterious  way  to  my  country 
to  become  the  slaves  of  the  white  people.  They  believed 
that  Lutate  had  gone  over  to  my  side  to  help  bewitch  those 
souls  and  was  to  share  in  the  profits.  So  he  had  to  leave 
his  town  at  once  and  he  came  down  to  the  station  to  live 
with  me,  leaving  his  wife  and  children  and  all  his  relations. 

BELIEVERS  WERE  ADDED 

This  went  on  for  some  time  before  there  were  any  more 
conversions,  but  the  people  were  greatly  stirred.  The  king’s 
son  had  been  suffering  a  great  while  from  his  teeth.  He  had 
done  all  he  could  with  the  charms,  and  then  he  came  to  ask 
me  to  help  him.  T  extracted  three  teeth  for  him  and  he  was 
better  at  once.  He  went  hack  to  his  town  and  put  his  idols 
in  the  grass,  and  he  thought  he  might  die  before  morning,  as 
he  was  told  he  would  if  he  insulted  his  idols.  The  next  day 
he  went  still  further,  and  put  them  further  away  in  the  long  Power 

grass.  He  found  that  nothing  particular  happened,  and  he 
came  down  to  hear  the  word  of  God  daily.  One  day  I  saw 
that  he  was  greatly  impressed  and  I  spoke  to  him  privately 
about  spiritual  things.  He  said  that  he  did  believe,  but  I 
was  not  satisfied,  and  I  said  he  must  give  his  heart  to  Jesus. 

He  went  back  saying  to  himself,  “How  can  I  take  out  this 
heart  and  give  it  to  Jesus?”  We  afterward  explained  this 
difficulty  and  he  became  an  earnest  Christian  and  one  of 
our  best  Christian  workers. 


16 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


Persecutions 


Striking 

Conversions 


Shortly  after  this  another  man  came  down  with  all  his 
idols  and  placed  them  on  the  table  and  said  in  a  very  savage 
manner  that  he  did  not  want  them  any  more,  that  he  wanted 
to  become  a  Christian  like  those  other  two  men.  We  ex¬ 
plained  to  him  that  this  was  not  exactly  the  right  spirit  to 
come  in,  but  he  must  come  like  a  child.  We  found  that  he 
was  really  in  earnest,  and  he,  too,  became  a  Christian  and 
began  to  preach.  Because  he  so  liked  preaching  we  called 
him  Paul,  and  a  while  ago  he  was  called  up  higher.  One 
day  a  man  came  in  looking  the  picture  of  wretchedness. 
He  told  us  afterwards  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  sleep. 
All  the  bad  things  he  had  ever  done  kept  coming  up  before 
his  mind  as  he  lay  on  his  bed,  and  he  wanted  to  know  if 
Jesus  could  not  take  away  his  sins.  We  told  him  that  was 
what  Jesus  wanted  to  do.  So  the  work  went  on  until  ten 
were  converted,  but  they  all  had  to  leave  their  towns  as  they 
were  threatened  with  death. 

I  then  locked  up  my  house  and  took  those  men  with  me, 
and  we  went  from  town  to  town,  and  village  to  village, 
preaching  the  word  of  God.  All  the  hillside  was  in  a  stir, 
and  soon  the  people  began  to  come  to  the  station  to  know 
what  this  new  thing  was.  I  was  not  able  to  go  away;  they 
came  early  in  the  day.  One  old  man  treated  us  with  the 
greatest  contempt  possible,  but  came  up  two  days  after¬ 
wards  just  like  a  child  and  went  down  on  his  knees  before 
me  and  said  that  he  was  greatly  troubled  about  his  sins. 
He  became  a  Christian  and  was  faithful  until  he  was  called 
home.  The  king’s  nephew,  the  heir  apparent,  became  great¬ 
ly  enraged  because  the  king’s  son  had  become  a  Christian 
and  had  left  his  town;  and  would  no  doubt  have  killed  him 
if  he  dared,  and  said  truly,  “you  have  another  life.”  He 
meant  to  say  that  I  had  by  some  means  overpowered  him  to 
come  over  to  my  side  and  that  he  had  become  a  traitor. 
He  did  not  know  how  truly  he  was  speaking  when  he  said 
this  man  had  another  life.  But  this  man  came  down  in  a 
few  days  after  this  just  like  a  child,  and  he  became  a 
faithful  follower  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  until  he  too  received 
his  reward. 

Quite  a  Christian  village  was  now  springing  up  near  the 
station  and  the  people  were  about  us  all  the  time,  so  that 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONOO 


17 


we  organized  two  regular  services  each  day;  one  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  and  one  in  the  evening,  and  we  had  inquiry  meetings  all 
day  long.  The  house  became  too  small,  so  that  we  had  to 
have  our  meeting  in  the  open  yard,  and  you  would  have  seen 
a  group  here  and  a  group  there,  and  one  of  the  first  converts 
in  the  center  teaching.  So  the  work  continued  and  was  ^  Christian 
blessed.  This  went  on  for  months  until  all  the  people  im¬ 
mediately  around  Banza  Manteke  were  no  longer  heathen. 

I  kept  a  book  and  put  down  only  the  names  of  those  who  i 
thought  were  really  converted,  until  I  had  reached  over 
1,000  names.  The  influence  was  felt  for  a  distance  of  six 
to  eight  miles.  The  population  is  comparatively  sparse 
compared  to  the  population  in  the  interior. 

PROSPERITY  AND  PERSECUTION 

A  great  many  of  the  converts  have  gone  home  to  heaven, 
and  for  the  most  part  the  others  are  holding  on.  Many 
are  not  as  earnest  and  as  devoted  as  we  would  like  to  have 
them  and  they  are  by  no  means  perfect.  We  have  bap¬ 
tized  about  2,000,  and  I  believe  our  church  is  as  spiritual 
a  church  as  I  know  of  anywhere.  The  church  chose  three  a  Spiritual 
evangelists  to  spend  their  time  in  preaching  the  gospel.  All  Church 
the  members  are  preachers  and  teachers,  but  these  three 
were  to  give  their  whole  time.  One  man,  David,  was  chosen 
and  agreed  to  take  four  pieces  of  cloth  a  month,  costing 
about  two  dollars.  When  the  time  came  for  him  to  receive 
his  pay,  I  remembered  that  he  said  to  the  church  that  as 
he  went  about  he  saw  so  many  poor  people  that  he  could  not 
take  his  pay  from  the  church.  Of  course,  many  of  them 
were  at  once  persecuted.  For  instance,  there  were  three 
who  came  and  heard  the  word  of  God  and  became 
Christians.  They  went  to  their  town  ISftombu  Lukuti  and 
told  the  people  that  they  were  no  longer  heathen,  and  that 
they  loved  Jesus  and  no  longer  trusted  in  their  idols.  The 
chief  became  very  angry  and  said  he  would  see  about  that, 
and  went  and  fetched  his  gun  and  came  out  and  shot  all 
three  of  them.  Our  people  became  greatly  stirred  over  this 
and  wanted  to  know  if  they  should  do  nothing  about  it,  as 
the  people  over  there  had  called  them  cowards  (women). 

1  called  them  together  and  read  and  expounded  the  sixth 


18 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


Loving 

Their  Enemies 


Devotion 
to  the  Word 


chapter  of  Luke,  and  asked  them  if  they  were  willing  to 
submit  to  the  word  of  God,  and  they  said  they  were.  Jesus 
said  we  ought  to  love  our  enemies  and  do  good  to  those  who 
hate  us.  Would  it  be  good  to  shoot  them?  God  says,  “Ven¬ 
geance  is  mine,  I  will  repay.”  In  this  life  you  will  see  that 
God  will  punish  that  man.  He  takes  vengeance.  It  is  far 
better  for  one  to  be  killed  than  to  kill  another.  In  this  way 
the  people  were  pacified.  Some  time  after,  this  same  chief 
went  to  another  town  and  insulted  a  slave  and  was  shot 
himself.  The  people  knew  all  this  and  willingly  admitted 
that  it  was  best  to  leave  vengeance  with  God. 

Another  one  of  the  witch  doctors  became  very  angry  be¬ 
cause  his  hope  of  gain  was  gone.  The  people  had  no  further 
need  of  him  and  he  took  himself  off  and  placed  his  house 
in  another  part  of  the  town.  He  declared  that  the  first 
Christian  who  passed  him  he  would  shoot.  He  put  a  mat 
outside  his  house  and  laid  down,  as  the  natives  do  in  the 
middle  of  the  day,  and  a  snake  under  the  mat  bit  him  and 
in  a  very  short  time  he  was  dead.  The  people  noticed  this 
case,  and  they  said  it  was  wonderful  how  God  protected 
his  own  people. 

One  of  the  evangelists,  Thomas,  by  name,  agreed  to  take 
four  pieces  of  cloth  a  month.  He  was  a  very  bright  man, 
and  could  get  much  more  if  he  should  choose  to  do  any¬ 
thing  else,  but  when  the  month  was  up  he  returned  his  four 
pieces  of  cloth  into  the  church  box  and  gave  as  his  contribu¬ 
tion  two  pieces  more.  He  bought  books  and  taught  a  school 
in  his  town,  and  bought  books  and  paid  another  teacher  for 
a  school  in  another  town.  This  man  led  his  grandmother, 
who  had  grown  gray  in  heathenism,  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
afterwards  taught  her  to  read  the  word  of  God.  And  when 
this  poor  old  lady  wants  to  come  to  the  services  it  takes 
her  two  days.  She  takes  her  little  basket  of  provisions,  such 
as  potatoes,  bananas,  plantains,  etc.,  and  she  sleeps  on  the 
way  and  goes  on  until  she  gets  to  Banza  Manteke,  so  that 
she  can  hear  the  word  of  God.  After  spending  some  days 
there  and  getting  food,  she  goes  back  to  her  own  town. 

I  may  mention  as  another  case  of  devotion  a  man  called 
Mandombi.  We  have  a  very  terrible  disease  in  the  Congo 
called  the  sleeping  sickness.  It  carries  off  many  of  our 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


19 


members.  No  one  seems  to  understand  the  disease  and  no  a  Willing 
remedy  has  been  found  for  it.  This  man,  knowing  that  he  Sacrifice 
had  this  disease,  had  worked  and  saved  five  pounds’  worth 
ol  cloth,  which  would  probably  take  him  a  year,  to  help  pay 
his  fare  to  England,  so  that  the  doctors  there  might  study 
his  case  and  make  a  post  mortem  when  he  was  dead  and  find 
remedy,  if  possible,  so  that  his  people  might  not  die  off  of 
such  dreaded  complaints.  He  not  only  left  his  wife,  but 
two  little  children,  and  gave  himself  up  as  a  sacrifice  for 
his  people. 


BRINGING  HOME  THE  HOUSE 

Wc  had  to  hold  our  services  in  the  open  air,  in  the  hot 
sun.  This  was  very  trying  to  the  preacher  and  to  his  con¬ 
gregation.  Dr.  Gordon’s  church  in  Boston  heard  of  this  and 
collected  a  sufficient  fund  to  build  a  chapel.  I  said  to  the 
people:  “Now  those  kind  people  in  America  have  heard  that 
you  have  turned  to  the  Lord  Jesus  and  they  want  you  to 
have  a  place  to  worship  in.  You  see  how  very  busy  I  am” 

(I  had  to  be  their  doctor,  as  they  had  given  up  their  Gift  of  a 
charms).  “I  have  no  time  to  superintend  the  new  building.  Chapel 
I  will  get  the  chapel  built  in  England  and  have  it  brought 
to  Tondua.  Will  you  bring  it  up  from  there  to  Banza  Man- 
teke?”  This  is  a  distance  of  between  fifty  and  sixty  miles, 
over  a  road  very  difficult  to  travel,  as  I  have  already  de¬ 
scribed.  Those  Christians  who  were  able  went  and  brought 
up  these  loads  until  they  had  brought  up  all  the  chapel, 
about  700  loads.  Some  of  them  went  from  three  to  five 
times;  Mandombi,  who  has  already  been  mentioned,  brought 
up  the  first  load,  and  I  was  told  that  he  went  five  times, 
and  they  did  this  free  of  charge.  How  many  hypocrites 
would  you  get  to  do  that  here?  To  go  more  than  fifty  miles 
down  and  fifty  miles  back,  three  or  four  times,  and  carry  a 
load  of  sixty  pounds  and  not  charge  anything  for  it !  It 
took  them  a  week  to  make  each  journey. 

NEW  CREATURES  IN  CHRIST 

These  people  who  were  thieves  became  honest.  My  wife 
and  I  lived  in  a  grass  house  without  any  lock  on  the  door  for 
a  whole  year;  and  when  we  first  went  into  that  house  our 


20 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


Character 

Transformed 


A  Bonfire 
of  Idols 


boxes  were  outside  with  the  things  unlocked,  and  nobody 
took  anything.  We  left  that  house  and  went  to  live  in  an¬ 
other,  one  hundred  yards  off.  Under  the  veranda  of  this 
deserted  house  was  a  box  without  a  cover  and  a  black  coat 
lying  in  the  bottom.  We  took  out  these  secondhand  coats 
from  England  at  a  very  cheap  rate,  and  the  men  like  them 
very  much  in  the  cold  season.  Although  the  thermometer 
is  never  below  seventy,  I  have  seen  them  shaking  witli 
the  cold.  I  went  over  to  this  house  after  two  months 
and  found  the  coat  still  untouched.  The  people  who  were 
such  liars  became  truthful,  as  well  as  more  industrious  and 
cleanly;  the  women  wanted  to  dress  themselves  better  and 
the  husbands  made  suitable  dresses  for  their  wives.  These 
dresses  are  long  flowing  robes  made  close  around  the  neck, 
with  long  sleeves,  and  come  down  just  to  the  ankles  with  a 
band  around  the  waist.  The  men,  too,  became  more  ener¬ 
getic,  and  they  acted  as  carriers;  in  fact,  carrying  has 
become  quite  a  trade.  The  people  would  not  carry  at  all 
v/hen  I  first  went  there,  but  now  many  of  them  act  as  por¬ 
ters,  and  some  of  them  are  learning  to  become  carpenters. 
When  we  were  erecting  our  chapel  we  engaged  some  Accra 
carpenters  from  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  and  we  told  our 
men  that  if  they  wanted  to  learn  they  must  watch  these 
carpenters.  Now  we  have  good  carpenters  at  Banza  Man- 
teke,  even  better  than  the  Accra,  and  they  are  building 
themselves  houses,  bedsteads  and  tables,  and  carpentering 
has  become  quite  a  trade.  They  always  bury  their  dead  in 
coffins  now.  Many  of  the  people  at  once  began  to  build 
themselves  better  houses.  As  soon  as  they  became  Chris¬ 
tians,  poison-giving,  throat-cutting,  witchcraft  and  every¬ 
thing  that  was  contrary  to  Christianity  ceased.  I  never 
told  them  to  bring  their  idols,  but  they  did  so,  and  at  the 
first  baptism  we  had  a  bonfire  of  idols  on  the  trade  path,  so 
that  the  people  passing  could  see  that  our  people  were  no 
longer  idolaters.  Surely  “old  things  had  passed  away  and 
all  things  had  become  new.” 

The  people  are  still  Africans,  and  I  wish  them  to  remain 
so.  I  should  feel  very  sorry  to  see  them  Americanized  or 
Europeanized.  They  are  Africans,  and  let  them  remain  so. 
I  protest  against  their  coming  to  England  or  America,  as 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


21 


they  would  see  a  corrupt  form  of  Christianity,  and  they 
become  pro-ud  and  ambitious  and  give  us  no  end  of  trouble 
when  they  return.  We  have  a  very  primitive  church,  such 
as  we  read  of  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  just  according 
to  the  New  Testament. 

A  FAMILY  QUESTION 

There  was  one  difficulty  we  had  to  meet  at  once.  The 
people  are  polygamists.  The  men  have  from  two  to  five 
wives,  as  a  rule.  They  are  all  married  according  to  the  cus¬ 
toms  of  their  country,  and  are  considered  by  all  as  his 
wives.  When  they  became  Christians  the  question  arose 
as  to  what  we  should  do;  but  as  there  was  no  one  to  whom 
T  could  go  for  advice  I  had  to  consult  the  New  Testament. 
I  found  there  no  authority  for  commanding  a  man  to  put 
away  all  his  wives  but  one,  and  so  allowed  them  to  keep 
them.  We  told  them  that,  of  course,  this  was  contrary 
to  the  original  intention,  for  God  only  made  one  woman 
for  one  man,  and  Christ  spoke  specially  of  only  wife,  not 
wives;  and  in  the  future  they  must  marry  but  one  or  they 
would  be  excluded.  Those  who  had  more  than  one  were  not 
to  marry  more.  In  this  way  polygamy  will  soon  die  out. 
The  people  are  beginning  to  feel  that  it  is  a  great  deal 
better  for  a  man  to  have  only  one  wife,  especially  as  they 
see  the  home  life  of  the  missionary,  which  makes  a  great 
impression  upon  them.  This  is  an  argument  in  favor  of 
married  missionaries.  I  think  it  especially  desirable  that 
African  missionaries  should  be  married.  Only  women  can 
deal  with  the  native  women  privately.  Woman’s  work  is 
as  important  as  a  man’s  in  that  country.  When  my  wife 
returned  she  had  a  glorious  reception.  I  question  if  a 
queen  ever  had  a  more  hearty  reception  than  she  had,  and 
as  she  saw  the  change,  she  had  some  difficulty  in  keeping 
her  eyes  dry.  At  once  her  hands  were  full  of  work  among 
the  women  and  children.  She  had  not  only  to  be  their 
teacher,  but  also  their  doctor,  and  she  soon  became  a 
specialist  as  a  baby  doctor,  as  the  women  have  no  idea  what 
to  do  when  their  babies  are  sick,  and  so  they  would  apply 
to  my  wife. 


Polygamy 


Woman’s 

Work 

Needed 


22 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


Initiation 

Rites 


Test 

Questions 


A  SECRET  SOCIETY 

They  have  a  secret  society  called  the  Nkimbi,  into  which 
all  men  have  to  enter,  at  the  age  of  from  twelve  to  sixteen. 
In  this  society  they  are  initiated  into  all  the  superstitions 
rites.  There  they  are  supposed  to  die  and  rise  again.  They 
get  a  new  name,  and  are  never  called  by  the  old  one  again. 
They  have  to  learn  a  new  language  called  the  Nkimba  lan¬ 
guage.  When  they  enter  they  eat  a  piece  of  chalk,  which 
•they  call  a  pig.  Those  who  are  initiated  often  say  that  this 
is  not  a  pig  but  the  Mbaku.  The  head  of  Nkimbi  will  tell 
them  that  it  is  a  pig;  and  if  they  say  it  is  not,  they  will 
kill  them.  If  they  ever  confess  that  it  is  not  a  pig  they 
will  die,  and  if  they  ever  confess  that  they  did  not  die  and 
rise  again,  they  will  die  suddenly.  They  remain  in  this  so¬ 
ciety  from  two  to  three  years,  then  Mbaku  takes  them  back 
to  the  town  and  shows  them  the  way,  and  introduces  them 
to  their  friends,  as  they  do  not  any  more  know  them;  and 
as  they  are  unable  to  speak  their  language,  he  interprets 
for  some  time,  until  they  acquire  their  original  language. 
They  are  never  known  to  confess  that  they  did  not  rise  and 
that  they  did  understand  the  language  when  they  returned. 

When  people  declared  that  they  wanted  to  become  Chris¬ 
tians,  we  had  some  test  questions,  which  were  suggested  by 
our  first  convert,  Lutate,  by  which  we  could,  at  least,  tell 
whether  they  had  given  up  their  faith  in  their  idolatry. 
The  first  question  was  this,  “Did  you  die  and  rise  again  in 
the  Nkimbi  ?”  They  are  told  that  if  they  confess  they  did 
not,  they  would  suddenly  die;  and  often,  trembling,  they 
would  answer,  “No.”  They  were  asked  if  it  was  real  pig 
or  chalk  they  ate;  and  if  they  said  chalk,  they  have  con¬ 
fessed  the  secret,  which  they  are  told  means  sudden  death 
to  them.  To  denounce  the  Nkimbi  is  to  give  up  idolatry. 
When  the  women  heard  these  men  confess  that  it  was  all 
untrue  that  they  had  been  led  to  believe  in  regard  to  the 
Nkimbi,  they  were  astonished  to  think  that  their  husbands 
and  brothers  should  have  always  deceived  them. 

PRAYER  ANSWERED 

Just  before  and  during, the  revival  we  had  some  very 
remarkable  answers  to  prayer.  The  head  of  the  Nkimbi 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


23 


was  about  the  greatest  enemy  to  the  gospel.  He  had  almost 
absolute  control  over  the  men,  and  told  them  if  they  listened 
to  me  they  would  be  bewitched,  and  I  told  him  before  his 
face  and  before  these  men  that  he  was  deceiving  them ;  that 
he  knew  that  it  was  all  untrue.  He  said,  “Is  it  not  true? 
You  come,  and  you  will  see  if  you  do  not  die  and  rise 
again.”  He  was  trying  to  be  bold  and  convert  me  to  heath¬ 
enism,  but  I  objected,  because  I  thought  I  might  perhaps 
fall  into  their  hands  and  die,  but  was  not  so  sure  as  to  the 
way  I  should  rise  again.  His  influence  over  these  men  was 
so  great  that  I  had  difficulty  in  getting  them  to  listen  to 
the  gospel.  There  was  also  another  witch  doctor,  a  female, 
who  had  about  the  same  control  over  the  women,  and  when 
I  was  preaching  to  them  she  would  say  that  if  they  listened 
to  me  they  would  die,  and  they  would  run  away.  There 
was  one  chief,  who  when  I  preached  would  take  his  gun  and 
his  people  would  follow  him.  I  felt  that  those  three 
wrere  great  hindrances  to  the  gospel.  While  I  was  down 
country  with  my  wife  I  asked  God,  earnestly,  to  remove  all 
hindrances  out  of  the  way.  When  I  got  back  to  Banza 
Manteke  I  found  the  head  of  the  ISTkimbi  had  gone  to  a 
palm  tree  to  get  palm  wine  and  had  fallen  down  and  injured 
his  back  and  died.  The  female  witch  doctor’s  house  had 
been  removed  and  she  was  dead  and  buried,  and  when  I  got 
to  the  town  of  this  chief  I  found  that  he  had  had  the  fever 
and  died,  and  so  my  three  enemies  were  taken  away. 

During  the  time  of  the  revival  we  had  two  services  a  day 
and  an  evening  service,  and  we  had  glorious  meetings.  The 
testimonies  of  the  converts  were  given  with  great  power. 
One  day  the  boy  who  had  charge  of  the  lamps  came  in  and 
said  that  the  oil  was  gone.  I  just  lifted  up  my  heart  to  God 
in  prayer  and  said,  “You  cannot  mean  that  these  services 
are  to  be  stopped;  we  cannot  conduct  them  in  the  dark.” 
An  hour  had  not  passed  when  the  same  boy  came  in  and  said 
that  a  carrier  had  come  from  Palabala.  I  went  outside 
and  the  first  thing  I  saw  was  a  large  tin  drum.  I  went  and 
looked  at  it  and  the  first  thing  I  read  was,  “Kol  zu  oil,”  just 
the  oil  we  needed.  If  it  had  been  kerosene,  or  paraffine,  or 
any  other  kind  we  could  not  have  used  it.  I  said  to  Peter, 
“Fill  up  the  lamps ;  God  has  sent  the  oil,”  and  God  con- 


Three 

Deceivers 


Glorious 

Meetings 


24 


THE  PENTECOST  ON  THE  CONGO 


Our 

Opportunity 


tinued  to  bless  us  in  these  meetings.  I  do  believe  that  if 
we  “seek  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,”  all  the 
necessary  things  will  be  supplied,  because  it  is  his  promise. 
We  can  see  that  God  has  never  failed  us. 

In  almost  every  place  where  the  gospel  has  been  faithfully 
preached  for  any  length  of  time  there  have  been  conversions. 
I  do  not  know  of  such  a  hopeful  field  in  the  world  as  in  the 
great  Congo  Valley.  There  are  no  such  great  systems  of 
religion  as  in  China  and  India,  such  as  Buddhism,  Brah¬ 
manism,  but  simply  fetishism,  and  the  people  are  naturally 
intelligent,  and  when  they  get  to  understand  that  there  is 
something  better  for  them  they  give  up  their  idolatry  and 
accept  Christianity.  The  people  are  naturally  very  plastic, 
and  the  people  in  Africa  will  be  just  what  we  make  them. 
If  we  do  not  take  the  gospel  to  them,  the  traders  and  others 
will  introduce  gin  and  rum,  powder  and  guns,  which  utterly 
corrupt  and  brutalize  the  people.  How  is  our  opportunity. 
God  has  opened  the  door  for  the  Church  to  go  in  and  take 
possession.  All  we  want  to  do  is  to  send  faithful  mission¬ 
aries  by  hundreds  and  thousands  to  go  and  win  these  people 
for  Christ. 


499.  1  REVISED  ED.-5M-1-06.  PRICE,  6  CENTS 


